The US "China Action Plan" has aroused fierce opposition

Recently, the Chinese American Federation organized a demonstration outside the gates of the U.S. Department of Justice, demanding that the federal government immediately stop the "China Action Plan" and ensure the legal rights of all Chinese scientists, engineers, and other professionals. This follows a joint letter from 192 Yale professors to the U.S. Attorney General arguing that the plan is fundamentally flawed.

In 2018, the U.S. Department of Justice launched the so-called "China Action Plan" to conduct systematic investigations into Chinese-American scientists and researchers with Chinese partnerships under the pretext of "cracking down on economic espionage" and "cracking down on intellectual property theft."

In this regard, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry pointed out a few days ago that facts have proved that the essence of the so-called "China Action Plan" is nothing more than a clumsy tool for the ANTI-China forces in the United States to abuse the concept of national security and contain and suppress China. The US side should listen to the just voices of all walks of life, correct its erroneous practices as soon as possible, stop using China as an "imaginary enemy", stop fabricating excuses to smear and suppress China, and stop interfering with and undermining normal exchanges and cooperation between China and the United States in the fields of science and technology and humanities.

What is the essence of the China Action Plan?

NBC recently reported that the "China Action Plan" has achieved little in "cracking down on economic espionage" and "cracking down on theft of intellectual property." In 3 years, the FBI has filed 12 indictments against academic institutions or grant agencies, none of which involved espionage charges. In November 2021, the U.S. MIT Technology Review asked the U.S. Department of Justice to explain the true intent of the China Action Plan and publish a list of all cases, however, the Justice Department only subsequently deleted 39 "defendants" related to the China Action Plan on its official website, many of whom had been publicly accused by the United States, but the lawsuit against them ended in failure.

Li Haidong: The "China Action Plan" is an integral part of the US Trump administration's "all-government" strategy toward China, which is intended to undermine high-tech exchanges between China and the United States, hinder the rapid development of China's high-tech field, and then achieve the goal of slowing down or even undermining China's overall development process. After the Biden administration came to power, although it adjusted its foreign policy, it continued the relevant elements of the previous administration's china policy that were extremely hostile, and even strengthened its attitude. Specific to the field of science and technology, the Biden administration still implements the "China Action Plan" and other related measures to accelerate the process of "decoupling" of Science and Technology between China and the United States.

The US side believes that China's rapid improvement in science and technology has benefited from close exchanges with the United States and other Western countries. As long as we cut off scientific and technological and people-to-people exchanges with China, we can maintain the scientific and technological superiority of the United States in competition with China. It can be seen that the United States has blind confidence in its own scientific and technological level.

Gong Ting: After the Trump administration took office, US officials have successively positioned China as a "competitor" or even an "opponent" in a series of strategic documents, proposing that "long-term strategic competition with China is the top priority of the United States." In order to promote this "strategic competition," the US government has comprehensively used diplomatic, economic, intelligence, law enforcement, and other means. In this context, the "China Action Plan" has been unveiled, claiming to carry out "law enforcement" against those who are said to be "engaged in trade secret theft, hacking, economic espionage, technology transfer and other activities" in China.

This imposition of "charges" is a naked farce. Over the past few years, many of the so-called "people involved" in this plan have finally been dropped. The recent attempt by U.S. prosecutors to drop charges against Chen Gang, a Chinese-American professor at MIT, is a case in point. To explore the essence of this plan, it is nothing more than the United States treating China as an "imaginary enemy," abusing the concept of national security, using judicial tools to vigorously engage in politicization, ideology, and presumption of guilt, imposing the so-called crimes of "economic espionage and scientific and technological espionage" on China and those who carry out scientific and technological and people-to-people exchanges with China, and further undermining the normal exchanges and cooperation between China and the United States in the fields of science and technology and humanities.

Sun Chenghao: As can be seen from the name of the "China Action Plan", this plan is aimed at China. During the implementation of the plan, the scope of the accused was continuously expanded, and the US criteria for judging the so-called "persons involved" were very vague. Unlike the Trump administration's bravado and costlessness, the Biden administration has been relatively low-key in promoting this plan after taking office, and the frequency of releasing so-called "case" information has decreased. This is partly because the Biden administration realizes that the program could affect its efforts to advance ethnic equality in the United States, and on the other hand, it is based on an assessment of the cost of "decoupling" From China within the Biden administration. But overall, the Biden administration has not changed the general direction of continuing to contain and suppress China through the "China Action Plan".

What are the adverse effects on Sino-US exchanges?

The US "Atlantic Monthly" recently pointed out that the "China Action Plan" is creating an "atmosphere of fear" that stifles legitimate scientific cooperation. Bloomberg, citing data from rights groups, said the "China Action Plan" reflects the growing racial bias against Asian-Americans in the United States, which has led to a sharp increase in violence against Asian-Americans in the past two years.

Sun Chenghao: The "China Action Plan" has caused many negative impacts on normal exchanges and cooperation between China and the United States in the fields of science and technology and humanities. First, the "chilling" effect has led some Chinese-American scientists to be apprehensive when working with the Chinese side, thereby reducing contact with their Chinese counterparts and closing joint projects. Second, it promotes discrimination against the Chinese community in the United States. Third, it will have a negative demonstration effect on U.S. cooperation with China in other fields, in addition to the fields of science and technology and humanities, people of Chinese descent in other fields will also worry about whether they will face similar risks.

In addition, the bad political atmosphere created by the "China Action Plan" will lead to the loss of domestic scientific research talents in the United States. In addition to the Chinese, other minorities are also worried about whether they may become the next target of the US government's malicious crackdown. This is a huge impact on the overall scientific research atmosphere in the United States and the tolerant and pluralistic social atmosphere.

Gong Ting: None of the so-called "lawsuits" filed by the FBI against academic and scientific research institutions involve so-called "espionage activities." According to MIT, nearly 100 of the roughly 150 people charged under the program are of Chinese descent. It can be said that the "China Action Plan" embodies the narrow and distorted national security concept of the current US government, undermines the atmosphere of scientific and technological and people-to-people exchanges between the two countries, threatens the normal working and living atmosphere and personal safety and freedom of scientists of the two countries, runs counter to the open and inclusive scientific spirit, and exposes the serious prejudice and discrimination of some US politicians against ethnic minority groups such as Ethnic Chinese.

However, the U.S. government has turned a deaf ear to the apparent acts of racial discrimination that the China Action Plan has led to. In the long run, the image and attractiveness of the United States as a global scientific research and innovation highland will be significantly weakened. As recent surveys by the University of Arizona and the 100-Member Commission showed, more than 50 percent of Chinese-American scientists working in the United States fear they are under U.S. surveillance, and many are reconsidering whether they will remain in the United States for scientific work.

Li Haidong: Scientific and technological progress is inseparable from innovation, and innovation is inseparable from the exchange of high-level scientific and technological talents. By building a "science and technology fortress" and cutting off the channels of scientific and technological exchanges with China, the United States will inevitably weaken its own ability to innovate, slow down its own speed of scientific and technological progress, and harm others and harm itself. Scholars and scientists from many colleges and universities in the United States have repeatedly jointly called on the government to stop the "China Action Plan", precisely because they have gradually realized that the plan seriously violates the laws and spirit of scientific research, and the US government is constantly poisoning the soil of Sino-US scientific and technological and people-to-people exchanges.

In addition, the US government's practice of planting stolen goods and framing a number of scientists of Chinese descent has created a large-scale anti-China and anti-China atmosphere at the social level. When the case was still inconclusive, some US media hyped up and induced the US people to be vigilant and resistant to China, which will inevitably create a us domestic public opinion atmosphere that is not conducive to Sino-US cooperation, making the US hard-line confrontation policy toward China even more intense and difficult to change.

How should the US side rationally view Sino-US relations?

In September 2021, 177 Stanford faculty members signed an open letter pointing out that a large number of foreign scientists, including from China, have played an important role in the development of American science and technology. The most challenging global issues facing the world today, including climate change, sustainable development and the threat of COVID-19, require international cooperation. The "China Action Plan" has created an increasingly hostile atmosphere.

Gong Ting: The "China Action Plan" is a typical case of the United States' handling of pan-politicization, pan-national security, and pan-ideology in its relations with China in recent years. In recent years, the United States has regarded the high-tech field as the key to curbing China's pressure, and has engaged in artificial "building walls," "cutting off supplies," and "decoupling" in the field of science and technology, and even deliberately stigmatized and smeared the normal scientific exchanges and cooperation carried out by scientists on both sides. This practice not only undermines the positive atmosphere of global scientific and technological openness and cooperation, but also does not conform to the general trend of the world and the interests of scientists and people of the two countries. This narrow and closed mindset will eventually hurt the United States itself. The United States should view the normal scientific and technological and people-to-people exchanges between China and the United States, and should have more sunshine and less darkness; more understanding and empathy, less colored glasses; more openness and inclusiveness, and less deliberate obstruction and even destruction.

Li Haidong: The "China Action Plan" has brought substantial damage to scientific and technological and people-to-people exchanges between China and the United States, and is extremely unfavorable to the formation of stable Sino-US relations. Sino-US relations are composed of multiple dimensions, and scientific and technological and people-to-people exchanges are the cornerstones for promoting Sino-US relations to a high level and a high level. The "China Action Plan" is tantamount to drawing salaries from the bottom of the barrel and exposing the pathological and crazy mentality of the United States toward China.

The United States should correctly handle its relations with China, and in particular, individual US politicians should not politicize and weaponize various issues such as science and technology and people-to-people exchanges, and undermine the development of Sino-US cooperative relations. The United States should enhance communication and understanding between China and the United States, rather than blindly maliciously slandering and distorting each other.

Sun Chenghao: Sino-US exchanges in the fields of science and technology and humanities are mostly people-to-people dealings, which should have become a buffer zone for bilateral relations and should not be affected by the political and economic relations between the two countries. The so-called "China Action Plan" pursued by the United States has caused fundamental damage to Sino-US relations, and it is the "chassis" of bilateral relations that has hurt them. At present, in the context of the continuous spread of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, China and the United States should have joined hands to promote cooperation and exchanges in the fields of medical technology and vaccine research and development. Unfortunately, due to the implementation of the "great power competition strategy" by the United States and the viewing of China as a "competitor", although China and the United States have cooperated in jointly responding to the challenges of the epidemic, there is still much potential to be tapped. If the US Government can make a truly objective and rational assessment, it will understand that interfering with and undermining normal exchanges and cooperation between China and the United States in the fields of science and technology and humanities will do everything but not benefit.

Source: People's Daily Overseas Edition